Friday, September 22, 2006

It’s Sugar High Friday, the monthly blogging sweet tooth event. When the lovely hostess and veggie evangelist Alanna revealed the theme "Surprise Inside" I knew I wanted to participate by using an ingredient in a surprising way. I began with an idea for adding ground ancho chili and cayenne pepper to a classic chocolate brownie recipe. The addition of cocoa and cinnamon along with the ground peppers would give it that Mexican twist. But I wanted to take my idea a bit further. So I went eastward and my curried chocolate brownie was born!

Combining curry powder with chocolate is an exotic idea, at least to me. Among some boutique chocolatiers, the trend is to use chocolate with ingredients like kalamata olives, sun dried tomatoes, or wasabi. I haven’t tried any of these chocolates yet, but it would be fun to taste them at least once.

So how did my curried chocolate brownie turn out? Surprisingly good (no pun intended, well, maybe a little). Overall, the brownie was well received. Most tasters didn’t realize it was curry powder until I told them. They just assumed the spiciness came from pumpkin pie spices like cinnamon, cloves, and ginger. They were partially correct. I used Penzeys Spices’ sweet curry powder which, according to label, contains turmeric, coriander, cumin, fenugreek, ginger, nutmeg, fennel, cinnamon, black & white pepper, cardamom, cloves, cayenne. Some people with more "seasoned" palates could detect the coriander and cumin.

I can’t say this brownie is for everyone. Some people didn’t even want to taste it because the idea was just too strange for them. And as adventurous as I am when it comes to food, I hate to admit that I didn’t really like it. It just wasn’t something I’d eat again. I mean, I thought the curry spices complemented the semisweet chocolate very well and the brownie had a nice texture and flavor. The curry powder was definitely unmistakable, but it wasn’t so dominant that it overwhelmed the chocolate. The extra cinnamon and ginger rounded out the heat of the curry powder and the orange zest provided a fruitiness that added some depth. Even though I didn’t like my own brownie creation, many people really enjoyed it. So I guess this recipe is a keeper.

In a medium bowl set over a pot of simmering water, melt butter and chocolate together stirring until smooth. Remove from bowl from heat, and mix in sugar and orange zest. Then mix in eggs and vanilla.Add dry ingredients and mix until just incorporated.

Pour the batter into your prepared pan and smooth the batter. Bake until tester comes out with moist crumbs, approximately 30 minutes. Let cool completely before serving.

these spicy brownies seem good. Sometime when we create recipes we're not that satisfied since we have a specific taste in mind and at the end it isn't what we wished. But they do look delicious...maybe with some nuts, just to have sthg crunchy!

I saw the title of this post and I swear that you could see the big question mark above my head - this is a combination that would never have crossed my mind! I love how you decided to utilize curry powder in a sweet, and also gave the catagory of 'spice+chocolate' a new entry - bravo! :)

You know at first I thought humm curry. But then when I read all the all the spices in curry I use most in my baking. I will have to try these. I think the orange would be a brilliant backdrop to the curry/chocolate. Clarice

Great experiment! Did you say you used semi-sweet chocolate? I wonder if the curry would be better paired with bittersweet?Great entry.. I would love to try the recipe but I think I might be the only one eating them.

That is so funny...we must be on similar wavelengths because I just made (and posted some pics of) brownies--not as creative as yours, but brownies nonetheless. Must have been something in the Peruvian lunch we had!

This sounds like a very interesting idea! I'm not sure if I would like the curry but I think I might try some with cayenne. I really love the chocolate flavored with hot pepper here in Sicily (we've even had hot pepper chocolate gelato!), I just hadn't thought about trying it in brownies.

I think it sounds interesting, and I'd try it, but I'm not sure I'd dig it, either. I made sugar cookies last night, with a pinch of cayenne in them, and it was too much for me. I'm going to blog about it this week, but I'm not so adventurous to do it again!

Oooo, I love this idea, it's both traditional and unusual, traditional with a twist, as they say. And I so CANNOT relate to the idea of not trying something because it "sounds" different. Anyway, thanks for surprising us all for Sugar High Friday, Look for the round-up later today! Alanna

I love that you went in such an unusual direction----and that you were willing to admit that you didn't really love them! I mean, I wish you had loved them, but it's fun to experiment nonetheless, isn't it?

I baked your brownies yesterday and we loved your recipe! The curry added a special flavor to those brownies, but I found that it wasn't overwhelming. In fact, if you don't know that there is curry powder in those brownies, you won't taste it directly...

Seems like my comment got lost in cyber space. I just wanted to say that I like your adventurous spirit, I don't think I would have gone that route. Proves that it takes a whole bunch of different tastes to make up the world!The brownies look wonderful nonetheless!

I made this yesterday and I found it very interestng that it had curry powder in the recipe. I did omit it however (as I was making them for a friend) but instead I used mixed spices (coriander,cinnamon,nutmeg) to create the spice and (because she likes sickly sweet things) I added golden syrup, honey and nutella as well as the chocolate and sugar ^w^. It was really nice though and your recipe so far has been the nicest and easiest to follow. I will try curry powder next time, as I am now curious as to what it will taste like :P

When I google "curried brownies" your site is the only one that comes up, which gave me hope that they could be done and be awesome! Here's what I did for mine, the ones that I made were some of the best brownies i have ever eaten (and trust me I eat a lot of brownies). I went to food network.com and found the most highly rated brownie recipe I could find. The one I used, I substituted more flour and less cocoa powder because I didn't have enough cocoa powder. Then I added 2 tsp curry powder, 1 1/2 tsp cinnamon, 1 1/2 nutmeg and 1 tsp ginger. The frosting I made from scratch, just experimenting with butter, yogurt, sugar, cocoa powder, cinnamon, nutmeg, ginger and cloves and some melted chocolate and coconut. They were honest to gd some of the best brownies I have ever eaten! Here's a link to my blog and the better explanation of them http://stockpotblog.tumblr.com/

The alpine strawberry (Fragaria vesca) is a cousin of the wild strawberry. It's sometimes simply referred to as alpineberry. I love to bake, cook and garden. My blog is a place to share my recipes and other tiny tidbits of my life.